Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Its about time for another release from this house. I look forward to testing it, despite my poor luck with Balmain fragrances. This one seems interesting, as Sander for Man is a scent I like. Mmmm....pepper.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by rickbr

My only thought is that i liked the bottle and i do want to try it...

The bottle design is gorgeous, thanks for sharing the tip with us Hillaire. I'm not sure if I'm crazy about the name Carbone, sounds a bit crude, no?. They should have left off the 'e' at the end, Carbon sounds better to me. I am interested, the house of Balmain has certainly done some interesting things over the years.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.......
I tried this today and was very disappointed. The name sounded interesting and the flacon looked great. I am a great fan of most Balmains perfumes, especially the vintage formulas. Balmain made a big mistake with Balman and now they have made another with Carbone. I got the pepper and elemi notes although somehow weak. Within a couple of minutes it turned into a vanilla and white musk "mash". It really reminded me of the awful cheap drugstore fragrance Vanilla Fields from Coty - tacky teeny girly and watered down fragrance. I wish I could say better things about this, but I can´t. It´s a vanilla and musk mess.
Get your act together Balmain !!!

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by david

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.......
I tried this today and was very disappointed. The name sounded interesting and the flacon looked great. I am a great fan of most Balmains perfumes, especially the vintage formulas. Balmain made a big mistake with Balman and now they have made another with Carbone. I got the pepper and elemi notes although somehow weak. Within a couple of minutes it turned into a vanilla and white musk "mash". It really reminded me of the awful cheap drugstore fragrance Vanilla Fields from Coty - tacky teeny girly and watered down fragrance. I wish I could say better things about this, but I can´t. It´s a vanilla and musk mess.
Get your act together Balmain !!!

Oh, no!!! How depressing! Well, I guess I am glad I did not buy it for my BF for X-mas blind, which is what I almost did!

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

I tried it and liked it very much..a mix of Incense and pepper ..with smoky notes ..unusual ..orignal and very masculine
For me , i d'ont know why, it's like it would be a "Vol de Nuit" made for men, more peppery ...nice

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by Makassar

I tried it and liked it very much..a mix of Incense and pepper ..with smoky notes ..unusual ..orignal and very masculine
For me , i d'ont know why, it's like it would be a "Vol de Nuit" made for men, more peppery ...nice

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Aswell as spraying on my skin I also gave a generous spray on a tester card. I have smelled the card again yesterday and today, and I´m sorry, but all I get is this cheap and tacky vanilla-musk note that still reminds me of the dreadful Vanilla Fields from Coty.
To each his own and I am happy if others appreciate this fragrance. For me however it´s a nightmare.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Just got this for my hubby, I liked it immediately! Most of all, because it reminds me of the discontinued first Cerruti scent for men, which was named Nino Cerruti (1979). Nino Cerruti was a bit sweeter to me and I looked up the notes to compare the two. They don't seem to have much in common, but still, the thought of Nino Cerruti was there instantly, it's one of the discontinued male scents of the 80s, that I miss a lot.
Does anyone else smell the similarity?

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Superb, tried this toady. Reminds me of Ambre Sultan, only a bit milder but with a more interesting if slightly less seductive accord in there somewhere. Could turn out to be a classic and rub shoulders with the greats such as Habit Rouge and Eau Sauvage IMHO. Also, I think it smells better from afar rather than up close, to the skin. Well priced for the quality as well.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by Kevin Guyer

The bottle design is gorgeous, thanks for sharing the tip with us Hillaire. I'm not sure if I'm crazy about the name Carbone, sounds a bit crude, no?. They should have left off the 'e' at the end, Carbon sounds better to me. I am interested, the house of Balmain has certainly done some interesting things over the years.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

I have big trouble picking out individual notes most of the time. I seem to take a fragrance as a whole, and in particular as a mood or a tone. This means I seem to make comparisons where others might not. I suppose it might mean I haven't got a clue as well I switched between Ambre Sultan and the Balmain and felt they were similar in some respects, even if their effect was created by quite different notes.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

I have the original of this. The original and the new are OCEANS apart. The new stuff is dismal crap compared to the vintage.
End of story.

I did not know there was an original CARBONE...

Have I told you about the scent of jasmine? Have I spoken about the smell of the sea? The earth is scented. And I perfume myself to enhance what I am. That's why I can not wear a perfume that bothers me. Perfuming is an instinctive wisdom. And like all art, it requires some knowledge of yourself..."
Clarice Lispector ( 1920-1977) - Perfumes da Terra / Earth Perfumes

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

The name was slightly different, "Carbonique". It was originally from the 40´s I would guess. It is very hard to find any information about it. It is not listed in basenotes, and googling brings up nothing - but it was originally a very old fragrance from Balmain.
The new Carbone I find not worthy of mention compared to the original.I was very,very disappointed in the new version.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by david

The name was slightly different, "Carbonique". It was originally from the 40´s I would guess. It is very hard to find any information about it. It is not listed in basenotes, and googling brings up nothing - but it was originally a very old fragrance from Balmain.
The new Carbone I find not worthy of mention compared to the original.I was very,very disappointed in the new version.

Merci David. I always thought that the first Balmain male perfume was Madame Germaine Cellier's Verveine Citronelle, after renamed as Monsieur Balmain

Have I told you about the scent of jasmine? Have I spoken about the smell of the sea? The earth is scented. And I perfume myself to enhance what I am. That's why I can not wear a perfume that bothers me. Perfuming is an instinctive wisdom. And like all art, it requires some knowledge of yourself..."
Clarice Lispector ( 1920-1977) - Perfumes da Terra / Earth Perfumes

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Thanks a lot Makassar. I have made a dreadful mistake here. My bottle is probably the stuff from Weil. The problem is, part of my collection is in my apartment in Berlin and part is here in France. Next time I visit Berlin I will check. I am sure you are right, and thanks again for pointing it out. That also would explain why the Carbone smells absolutely nothing like Carbonique........
Back to Balmain Carbone, I have tried it a few more times, but my nose still gets a tacky cheap coty Vanilla Fields / Vanilla Musk drydown.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

i tried balmain carbone yesterday, just before going to basenotes. i am relentlessly searching for encense fragrances. the last time i was in paris i spent most of the day sampling ensence perfumes at lafayette. balmain carbone reminds me of bois d'armenie by guerlain. the closest i came to encense is annick goutal encens flamboyant, and bois d'armenie by guerlain. tom ford is close and has sillage. comme des garçons kyoto is another option but not strong, disappears quickly. i made some impulse purchases of reminiscence noir and angel schlesser which i regret. i now wear 24 gold by 20 century fox - yes the movie makers. it is close to what i want but not there yet. i welcome any suggestion as to how i can get closer to a perfect encense fragrance? i will probably buy the balmain carbone.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

Originally Posted by counto

i tried balmain carbone yesterday, just before going to basenotes. i am relentlessly searching for encense fragrances. the last time i was in paris i spent most of the day sampling ensence perfumes at lafayette. balmain carbone reminds me of bois d'armenie by guerlain. the closest i came to encense is annick goutal encens flamboyant, and bois d'armenie by guerlain. tom ford is close and has sillage. comme des garçons kyoto is another option but not strong, disappears quickly. i made some impulse purchases of reminiscence noir and angel schlesser which i regret. i now wear 24 gold by 20 century fox - yes the movie makers. it is close to what i want but not there yet. i welcome any suggestion as to how i can get closer to a perfect encense fragrance? i will probably buy the balmain carbone.

Re: Balmain Carbone? Any thoughts???

This one finally made its way to San Francisco and I smelled it yesterday. It was nice. It reminded me of their well-respected Ambre Gris, but masculinised with a shot of lavender and a lot of woods and incense underneath. In a way that's hard to describe, it smelled more like a top shelf designer scent than a better niche (I think it's the pink pepper, which is a note that's often used to make things smell more "familiar"), but I'd confidently place it in the same league as Halston Man Amber.